UAB's Rimmer awarded best paper of 2013 by AAP

James H. Rimmer, Ph.D., director of the Lakeshore Foundation/UAB Research Collaborative, has been selected to receive the Association of Academic Physiatrists Excellence in Research Writing Award by the AAP and the editorial board of the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

The award, which is given annually to the lead author of the best paper published in the journal each year, is for Rimmer’s article titled “Telehealth Weight Management Intervention for Adults with Physical Disabilities: A Randomized Controlled Trial.”

The article appeared in the December 2013 issue. It examined the results of Rimmer’s study on the effects of a remote, telephone-based weight management program for people with physical disabilities. The subjects were studied for nine months and used a Web-based telehealth system that he and his team developed referred to as POWERS — Personalized Online Weight and Exercise Response System.

“This is the first randomized controlled trial that demonstrated people with physical disabilities can make small, effective improvements in self-managing their health,” said Rimmer, the UAB School of Health Professions’ inaugural Lakeshore Foundation Endowed Chair in Health Promotion and Rehabilitation Sciences. “We are continuing this research to determine whether POWERS can help participants achieve greater weight loss/weight maintenance through an advanced m-health/e-health platform that is under development at UAB and Lakeshore Foundation.”

Rimmer has been researching, developing and directing physical activity and health promotion programs for people with disabilities for 30 years. His research explores new and emergent technologies in developing behavioral and environmental strategies to promote beneficial physical activity and healthful weight management in youths and adults with disabilities.

Rimmer, who was recently named to the Scientific Board of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, is director of two federally funded centers — the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability, and the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Interactive Exercise Technologies and Exercise Physiology for Persons with Disabilities. He is also director of the Disability Rehabilitation Research Project on Obesity and Obesity-Related Secondary Conditions in Youths and Young Adults with Disabilities.

A monetary award and plaque will be presented to him at the AAP Annual Meeting Awards Luncheon in Nashville on Thursday, Feb. 27.